1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to voting booths and, in particular, to portable, nesting voting booths that can be easily nested for minimal setup, convenient transport between a polling facility and a storage facility, and efficient space utilization when not in use, and that can be positioned in modular grouping with other booths.
2. Description of the Background
Voting is one of the most fundamental acts of a democratic society, and the privacy of the voters is paramount for several reasons. First of all, privacy avoids post-election partiality by the winning government. Secondly, privacy ensures that voters are not influenced by the popular vote. For these reasons, there are laws to ensure voter privacy, and voting booths must comply with these laws.
A voting booth provides an individual voter with an enclosed area for casting a vote, using a ballot, mechanical, or electronic voting system, at a polling-place facility. This ensures voter anonymity. Voting booths can be permanent against-the-wall enclosures, each having a door or curtain. However, given the infrequent nature of elections, polling places are seldom single purpose facilities. Most polling-places are temporary facilities—often times schools, halls, and local government offices—that are used for voting on a temporary basis because elections only occur periodically over a short time period. Permanent voting booth installations are not possible in this case, and instead, it is necessary to store and transport multiple voting booths between a storage location (during non-election periods) and the polling-place (during elections). Consequently, conventional voting booths are typically free-standing temporary (knock-down) structures having a shelf and privacy panels that obstruct the view of others in the vicinity.
During elections, a polling-place facility will have multiple voting booths to accommodate numerous voters simultaneously. It is a daunting task for local election officials to deploy these voting booths and other voting equipment at every polling-place facility. The voting booths must be transported to the polling-place facility, and once at the polling-place facility, the booths must be set up. Conventional portable voting booths, for example, the booth disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,827,262 to McClure, requires extensive set up. The booth components must first be unpacked from its closed position by unfolding the bi-fold case. The legs must be assembled and attached to the case to elevate the voting surface, and once assembled, the booth must be placed in position at the polling-place facility without accidently dislodging any of the assembled components. The process is reversed within days. Additionally any part that is separated during assembly may become lost. Possibility of lost parts requires that that an inventory of parts be made both before and after deployment.
Given such conditions of use, voting booths must be extremely durable to withstand harsh handling by election workers and some voters. Indeed, modern voting booths must be strong enough to support heavy voting machines. At the same time, voting booths must be as versatile as possible, maintaining portability and functionality in a self-contained, easy to set up, and lightweight form factor. Therefore, any design that makes storage more compact, transport quicker, and set up easier without sacrificing durability would be greatly advantageous.
There have been previous efforts in this regard. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,787 to Stephens relates to a disposable foldable combination voting booth and speaker's lectern. The reference, however, does not disclose any degree of durability. There are also suitcase-type voting booths that collapse flat into a suitcase form factor. However, fully collapsible voting booths tend to compromise durability and complicate the setup/take down process. Additionally, the number of individual and separate parts leads to the potential of accidental loss of the needed parts. The concept of nesting voting booths that can be consolidated into a compact grouping has not been previously attempted. Nesting would allow the voting booths to remain substantially assembled (maintaining durability and ease of setup), yet also facilitate convenient transport of multiple booths between a polling facility and a storage facility in a compact grouping and more efficient space utilization when not in use. Nestability is known in other contexts. Food containers and paper plates are nestable but have an inherently simple structure that allows it. More complex three-dimensional products must be carefully designed to nest properly, and to nest fully to conserve maximum space. This can become a daunting effort, and yet there have been efforts to nest more complex articles such as furniture. Stacking chairs are known, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,448 to Petty discloses a nesting desk with an inclined desktop. However, this reference is not a portable voting booth and does not require privacy panels or a long leg structure. If privacy panels were added to the desk, the desk would no longer nest.
In this regard there is a need for a durable voting booth that is portable, has a high degree mobility, is easy to set up, and is lightweight. There is also a need for a nesting voting booth that allows many such booths to be nested and transported, thereby minimizing storage space and effort.